In this talk, I will explore two unresolved mysteries of our Solar System and how my research at Cambridge aims to solve them.
The first concerns Venus, which may have once exhibited an Earth-like climate with a temperate atmosphere and bodies of liquid water. However, a runaway greenhouse process and cataclysmic resurfacing have rendered Venus a hostile planet and obscured direct evidence of its past conditions. I will discuss how Venusian rocks were ejected during asteroid impacts and subsequently transported to the Moon's surface. I will also comment on forthcoming Moon missions and their prospects for recovering these samples to reveal Venus' ancient climate.
The second mystery involves 'Oumuamua, the first confirmed interstellar object, which made a brief passage through our Solar System in 2017. Its non-gravitational acceleration and lack of coma oppose conventional classification, leaving its origin and composition uncertain. Theoretical models struggle to reconcile its properties with known processes of planetesimal and small-body formation. I will present my contributions to recent hypotheses on ‘Oumuamua’s formation and evolution, including the potential role of impact craters and X-ray observations to probe the physical characteristics of 'Oumuamua analogues.